Year: 2018

A Banksy painting was shredded immediately after its auction ended. Apparently, the auction house Sotheby’s didn’t know this was going to happen—or did they? Blogger Jason Bailey wrote a detailed analysis behind the Banksy shredder: Myth Busting Banksy. Was it a…

The artist known for his own shade of blue. Yves Klein patented International Klein Blue in 1961. He passed away one year later at age 34. During that brief time, he painted all sorts of things blue—human bodies, monochrome paintings,…

What are the art world’s most popular artists? One method is to look at the most-followed artists on Artsy.net. If an artist is in a museum, gallery, or auction house, then they are most likely going to have a presence…

When something has a cool photogram/Bauhaus look, it’s “Moholy-Nagy-esque.” That is, something that looks like László Moholy-Nagy’s work. My brother Erik created this really cool image that is “Moholy-Nagy-esque”. As of right now, there are only five results on Google for this…

If you take a photo while you are invisible with an invisible camera, what is recorded on your camera? To be clear, both you and your camera are invisible. Tech expert Sparxmind makes a great point: If the camera is…

Quantum computing for anyone! Every month you get 1 free minute of processing time on D-Wave’s quantum computer. What sort of things would you like to process with a Quantum computer? Cybersecurity stuff? Secure telecommunications? Transportation logistics? I might opt…

Today I realized something with my blog. I’m much more of a habit guy than a goal guy. Goals are actually destroying my blog. What helps my blog to thrive is habits. Do you find yourself tweeting much more than…

The genetic service 23andMe has DNA samples from over 3,000,000 individuals, including myself. They ask these people to fill out surveys to help uncover genetic connections to allergies, psychiatric disorders, and diseases. I love filling out the surveys to help…

Amidst the hectic tourists of Chicago’s Millennium Park lies a number of peaceful sections. A line of eight Sycamore trees is reminiscent of the Gardens of Versailles in France. This gallery of tress is one of my favorite quiet areas…

The roundness of this Gamorrean Guard illustration reminds me of the Chicago Bean. EVERYTHING reminds me of the Chicago Bean these days. Glenn Savage has done other sketch cards for Star Wars. The Gamorrean Guard is my favorite. This is…

The John Singer Sargent exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago is closing this weekend. Thankfully my brother informed me of that this morning. Now that I work within walking distance of the Art Institute, I wanted to take full…

“Dude, that’s so sick!” What does that mean? Well, let me tell you. Sick is an acronym. S.I.C.K. stands for: Sentences Involving Compositional Knowledge. Next time you want to say “that is so sick”, you can instead say, “That is…

Google translates “Puns are illegal in Germany” into “Wortspiele sind in Deutschland illegal” The word “puns” in German is “Wortspiele” That is so much FUN! Word fun! Clearly, puns are NOT illegal in Germany. The very word for pun is…

Rotis Semi Serif not a serif. It’s not a sans serif. It’s an in-betweener with hinted serifs. Your body text does not want hinted serifs. Your body text wants either full serifs or none. But good news! Rotis does come…

I love saving webpages. That’s the truth. Archive.org is such a fundamental service for the internet. It’s so awesome that everyone has the control to be able to specify webpages to archive onto their service. They even have a cool…

One of the world’s most iconic public artworks is right across the street from my new workplace. That famous artwork? The 110-ton reflective bean in Chicago. Installed in 2006, this mirrored sculpture hit the ground just in time for our…

Hyperallergic is one of the art websites that I regularly enjoy; therefore, it’s exciting to hear they are now doing a weekly podcast! To give you a taste of Hyperallergic’s fun stories, here’s some of the most recent articles from…

The giant BBQ turkey leg is the Taste of Chicago’s most iconic menu offering. A giant Fred Flinstone-sized turkey leg slathered in BBQ sauce. Guaranteed to make a mess. Guaranteed to be fun to shred apart. (My ten tips on…

Goodbye, Tower. I just left the Tribune Tower for the last time. On my way out, I made a giant five-foot wide pencil rubbing. Here’s a four-minute video with me narrating its creation along with a time-lapse. Etched into the…

Well, I just happened to stumble upon the Chicago Tribune editorial floor right before the head editor gave a speech to the entire staff. I work on the 3rd floor with the advertising staff of the Tribune. Editorial is on…

Many of the Tribune journalists have been tweeting and writing emotional stories about leaving the Tribune Tower. The Tribune big columnists are writing some very poignant stories. Page two columnist John Kass, architecture critic Blair Kamin, Pulitzer-Prize winner Mary Schmich…

One more week in the Tribune Tower. Next Friday, we move. Word around is that right after we move, the entire building is being gutted. Right away. We aren’t allowed to come back. The following Monday we immediately go to…

So many companies emailing about their privacy policy! Wow. Well, it’s a good thing that the European Union is forcing everyone to publish simple policies on how each company uses cookies and data. All consumers should know what is each…

If you are an American, you won’t be able to root for the USA in the World Cup this year. For the first time in three decades, USA failed to qualify. You might just shrug your shoulders and move on.…

Are you a creative that feels like your personal work lacks focus? That your mind is all over the place with too many projects? It’s ok. More than ok, it’s wonderful! This Twitter thread by Violeta Nedkova will encourage you…

It’s great when you feel like you are accomplishing something. On spudart.org I’ve made 35 blog posts so far this year. That number surpasses what I did in 2017 (33), and in 2016 (also 33). I attribute this to my…

Back in the 1930s, the Tribune Tower’s observation deck boasted one of the best views in Chicago. The ticket to the observation deck looks a bit like the 1984 State of the Union ticket. Ah, vintage design.

My photo of the tulips with a Harris Shutter is currently the “top post” for the Instagram hashtag #colurfultulips. Pretty neat. As much as I rail against Instagram, their “top post” feature is pretty nice. Search for a hashtag, and…

Unfortunately, Instagram doesn’t let you search through your favorites. You can see a grid of your favorite photos. But there is no search. If there is a photo you fav’d a while ago, and you want to pull it back…

DING DING DING DING   DING DING DING DING The sweet sweet alert DING DING DING DING   DING DING DING DING The sound of summer starting. DING DING DING DING   DING DING DING DING Summer is here! When the weather gets…

In less than two months, the Chicago Tribune will be moving out of Tribune Tower, into the Prudential Building four blocks south on Michigan Avenue. From 1925 to 2018, we’ve been here for 93 years. And now we are leaving…